Welcome! This is a Non-Political and a Non-Profit site (to include its authors and contributors) and does not subscribe to any revisionist organizations. This site is only to explore the combat role and history of the European Waffen-SS in World War II. Enlistment rolls show that a total of 950,000 men (German and foreigners) served in its ranks between 1940 and 1945. This blog contains a collection of real events and information on these volunteers for historical research and documentation.

Won the battle but lost the war

Unbesiegt

The occupying Soviet troops celebrated, some indulging in the rape and murder of German citizens. When Stalin was told how the Red Army soldiers were treating German refugees, he is reported to say: We lecture our soldiers too much; let them have some initiative. Those Waffen-SS men who were in the combat-ready elements and continued to fight did so for three main reasons: They were determined to protect German civilians from Soviet reprisals; and they had little to return to in their homelands. Some hoped to join with the British and Americans in an anti-Soviet war. Also, they knew all too well about the Soviet Red Army's methods if captured. Vladlen Anchishkin, a Soviet battery commander on the 1st Ukrainian Front, sums up the horror, when he tells how he took personal revenge on captured Waffen-SS Grenadiers: I can admit it now. I said, Bring them here for an interrogation and I had my special knife, and as they come in I slit their throats. I knifed a lot of them. Four years I waited for you. Four years you hunted me. Dont look at me as if I were a criminal. It was a long time ago. Source: Laurence Rees, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Image: Unbesiegt: Oil painting by Ingvar Gerber. Fair use.